About a month ago, students at Neosho Christian School hosted Knights of Science.  This is a take on the "Living Webpage" idea that I did in my own class years ago.  My wife took the idea and ran with it with fifth through twelfth graders at the private school in Neosho, Missouri.

You may ask, "What is a Living Webpage?"

All of the projects were presented to peers and evaluators from the community in one culminating day.  Mr. Culbertson (my own former teaching partner), church acquaintances, and I judged some of the projects using a prepared scoring guide.

My wife then turned them into actual webpages and posted them on the following website for all the world to ponder:

Questions

• ​Why did it take eight days to perform the practice of circumcision?
• What does Jesus mean?
• Are they living under the Old Covenant or the New Covenant?
• How are all firstborn males holy?
• Is there any significance that Jesus is the firstborn child of Mary?
  

​Let's Think
This short section of Scripture does have a little meat on the bone.  By now, it has been established that circumcision is a rite of the Jews.  It is a very personal cutting that serves as a sign of obedience to the Law of Moses.  The male child is not physically ready for the ritual until the eighth day.  In fact only on that day does the body produce enough Vitamin K to allow the procedure to be safe.  Not even on the ninth day is this true - only on the eighth.  God knows this even if the people of the day do not understand the science of the matter.  It is very compelling evidence of the truth of Scripture.

And yes, Joseph, Mary, and now Jesus do live under the Law of Moses - the Old Law.  In order for the New Testament to be instated, there requires a death - the death of the Testator - to take place.  Only on the death of Jesus does the New Covenant become official.

Jesus is the Boy's Name.  It is obviously still important to name the Son appropriately and fulfill what the angels have already said.  He is the Firstborn of Mary, indicating that others will follow (in contrast to the teaching of some).  The firstborn is traditionally significant, both in society and in sacrifice, so the idea of Jesus becoming a sacrifice is not lost on the reader in Luke 2.

I didn't mind spending several minutes in Baxter Springs, Kansas, at the impressive Heritage Center and Museum.  The folk art, the Civil War memorabilia, and lifestyle materials from bygone decades are enough to keep a person busy for a while.  I was especially impressed with quality of the displays and their labels.  A piece of the "Hanging Tree" caught my eye, as did the slave's field cradle and other items.

Looking for a local place where you can spend an hour and get a cultural education?  Maybe a trip to the Quapaw Tribal Museum is in order.  This small museum is off the beaten path in Quapaw, Oklahoma, just a few miles out of Joplin, Missouri.  Some of the items are pretty old, but others incite the imagination.  I was especially interested in being in the same room with a document signed by President Grover Cleveland.

Every yearn for a visit to old times?  In between student teacher observations, I was able to visit the Crawford County Historical Museum in Pittsburg, Kansas.  It was a cold day, and the museum was closed, but I was still able to visit the outdoor exhibits.  I'll have to go back for another visit when the doors are open in the future.

Earlier, we took a brief look at an Indian mound.  What is the difference between a mound and a tell?  We will use p. 13 in your folders to execute a planned tell​ activity.

Read Joshua 11:13 and Ezra 2:59.

Defining archaeology is simple enough, but let's understand something that's not widely acknowledged.  Draw concentric circles on a paper.  Those circles convey an important message - that there is more to archaeology than finding treasures belonging to famous people.

The smallest circle represented the few souls that we recognize anchor Bible characters (Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Jesus, Peter, and the like), but they tell only a portion of the story.  We might pursue searching for the lives of broader and broader groups of people in order to get a better picture of their ways of life as well as the greater inner and physical struggles that folks underwent as a result of the economy and lifestyles in which they found themselves.  Placing importance on all of the lives includes not only the policy makers, but also the families of the landowners; not only the landowners, but also their families, including women and children; not only the families of landowners, but also the people who did not own land; also the people who were not Jews, but people of other faiths; not only Jews, but also the Jewish Christians; not only Jews, but also the Muslims.  The list probably goes on and on, each time requiring a larger circle to be drawn to include more.

That's true of our American founders, as well (Washington, Jefferson, and the like).  Digs at Mount Vernon or Monticello reveal only a portion of the story.  Repeating, we might pursue searching for the lives of broader and broader groups of people in order to get a better picture of their ways of life as well as the greater inner and physical struggles that folks underwent as a result of the economy and lifestyles in which they found themselves. Placing importance on all of the lives includes not only the policy makers, but also the families of the white landowners; not only the landowners, but also their families, including women and children; not only the families of white landowners, but also the Whites who did not own land; also the people who were not Protestant Christians, but people of other faiths; not only White Protestants, but also the Indians; not only White Protestant male landowners, but also the Enslaved.  Once again, the list probably goes on and on, each time requiring a larger circle to be drawn to include more.

​Based upon items in the area - perhaps items buried with the person - other information can be revealed:

What archaeology does do for us is help us add context to the timeline.  Considering when advancements were made to technology and innovations can lend a little more understanding to the history.  Overlay the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, etc. on the Biblical/cultural timeline and this is what we see.

In this lesson, we plan to engage more with our hand-drawn maps of Israel.  Because of the nature of this lesson, information is presented in something that floats between being an outline and a written explanation.

The first three areas to add to the maps are border areas.  They lie between the major political areas and served as buffer zones.  The control and loyalty in these areas often switched from one of its neighbors to the other.  Add the following items to the map at the teacher's explanation and instruction:

Western Foothills:  Deuteronomy 1:7; Joshua 9:1; Judges 1:9; 1 Chronicles 27:28; Jeremiah 17:26; Zechariah 7:7; Obadiah 1:19

The Corridor:  not mentioned in the Bible

Consider Romans 12.  Discuss its application to our conversation so far, as well as what it means to tonight's overview of clashing cultures among Israel's neighbors.

In this session, we're going to get the briefest of overviews to the peoples who lived nearest to Israel.  Refer to the world map in the beginning of your handouts to recall how Israel is smack dab in the middle of the ancient world.  It is the hub, sitting between Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and the westward-leaning nations.

​We begin with...

While Israel might have been the center of the world, Egypt was also a central figure in a great civilization, and its influence extended far.

We can't talk about the New Kingdom without discussing the pharaoh of the Exodus - the man with a hard heart, who refused to listen to God through Moses and was plagued 10 times before releasing the enslaved nation of Israel.  The second video below puts us in his presence.

The Syrian civilization included the Hittite people, the Phoenicians, and the people of Damascus.  We touch briefly on these cultures before investigating Mesopotamia.

We'll get a brief overview of the West, as well.  This is the area marked by Crete, Greece, and of course, Rome.

Get ready with the handmade map we've been working on.  We're about to mark some additional areas on that map.